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It was nice to have Nick home on Saturday night. They tried to stick to their once a month movie nights, just the two of them, but as his life—and hers—got busier, Sarah was sure those would begin to fall by the wayside.

In the meantime, she intended to enjoy as much time as she could with her lovely boy. He came down from his room with Nellie at his heels and fed the dog her supper before collapsing on the floor in front of the couch. Nellie ate her food rapidly and came to join him. The two of them were really inseparable, Sarah thought. She was glad he had his dog this spring, someone he could trust to never judge him or think less of him. She wouldn't, either, but she could understand why he might be afraid of talking to her. The dog was a much easier audience.

"Do you want to pick the movie?" Sarah called from the kitchen. She came in to sit down on the edge of the couch, waiting to see what he'd suggest.

"Yeah, I'll see what there is."

After a few minutes, when he hadn't offered any options, she looked up from her tablet. "Mamma Mia."

"We've seen that four times this year already."

Sarah thought a fifth time would be fine. Occasionally, if she was very lucky, she'd catch him in a good enough mood that he'd get up and dance with her to some of the songs. He always claimed he couldn't dance, and she always told him that it didn't matter how you moved as long as you enjoyed the music. Mostly he was too aware of his dignity as a sixteen-year-old boy to believe her, but she treasured the moments when he joined in.

But if he wasn't up for it, he wasn't. "All right, you think of something. I'm going to dish up the pizza."

As she took out the plates, she tried to think what she could suggest that might spark a conversation. Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert? No. That was too much. Brokeback Mountain? No! Too depressing.

Then it came to her. She picked up the plates and went into the living room, where Nick was still staring at his phone. "I've got it. Pirates of the Caribbean. It's a classic. What do you think?" It might not spark a new conversation, but it was so familiar to both of them, it should be relaxing, at least, and she thought he could use that.

Nick hesitated, then said, "Yeah. That sounds good."

They'd seen the movie a number of times together already, but it had been a while since the last viewing. They had their routines—joining in the endless repetitions of "parlay", acting out parts of the swordfight between Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, making fun of the governor's wig—and occasionally made comments about something in the background they'd never noticed before. Mostly it was nice just to be here together.

On the screen, Will Turner was binding up a wound Elizabeth Swan had received. Sarah said, "You remember that summer when you were, like, eleven, we had to watch this every evening."

Nick frowned. "It wasn't every evening."

"Yes, it was, 'cause I could quote it word for word by the end of it." She smiled at him. "And I knew it was because you loved Keira Knightley." She reached out and stroked his arm.

"Mum."

"What? She's a very pretty girl."

He glanced at her over his shoulder. "Please stop talking."

Sarah had hoped the conversation would encourage him to say something, anything, but he was reacting like any teenage boy would to his mum mentioning a childhood crush or pointing out a pretty girl. Could she be wrong?

She didn't think so. With Charlie over here or Nick at his house three or four nights a week, she was seeing and hearing more and more things—a look here, a whisper there—that made her ever more convinced that her son and Charlie were more than just good friends. It worried her that Nick wouldn't say anything to her. She wanted to respect his privacy, but she also wanted to make sure he was okay, and she often surprised him when he was alone with a look on his face that said he was not. Something was bothering him, and Sarah wasn't used to having him keep secrets from her, or having something wrong with him that he wouldn't tell her about.

By the time the movie was over, she wished she hadn't pushed. He'd gone very quiet after she'd pointed out Keira Knightley. Sarah had almost had to drag him off the couch to act out the final swordfight, and even then, his heart wasn't in it.

As soon as the movie was over, he took the dog out to the back yard, brought her in, and went to bed.

"Good-night," Sarah called up the stairs after him. She waited there at the bottom for a few minutes, hoping he'd reconsider and come back down for the ice cream she'd offered and he'd refused, but his door remained firmly closed.

Sighing, she took herself back to her tablet and put on Mamma Mia for herself. It really was remarkably good at cheering one up.